EXCLUSIVE: Lil Rel Howery, Janelle James, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Keyla Monterroso Mejia, Maude Apatow and Katt Williams have joined TriStar’s untitled buddy comedy starring Keke Palmer and four-time Grammy-winning musician Sza. Joshua Neal, Aziza Scott and Patrick Cage will also star.
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The logline is being kept under wraps. Lawrence Lamont is directing with the screenplay written by Syreeta Singleton. Producing is Hoorae’s Issa Rae and Sara Diya Rastogi, ColorCreative’s Deniese Davis and Macro Film Studios’ Charles D. King, James Lopez and Poppy Hanks. Singleton is co-producing. Big Boss’ Palmer and Sharon Palmer are executive producing. Macro Film Studios is also co-financing.
The project came together from the CoCre lab at Sony Pictures, a previous pact between ColorCreative and Sony to source and incubate emerging, diverse screenwriters to develop and write their first studio feature based on original ideas.
Howery is continuing to busy, recently starring in Vacation Friends 2, the sequel to the Hulu movie he starred in alongside John Cena. Other recent credits include Judas and the Black Messiah, Good Burger 2 and the Christmas comedy Dashing Through the Snow with Ludacris. This year, Howery was seen in We Grown Now , and he is next set to star in Sony’s Harold and the Purple Crayon this August.
James stars in the Emmy-nominated ABC comedy Abbott Elementary , for which she has received three consecutive Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, as well as nominations for Golden Globe, Independent Spirit, Critics Choice and Gotham awards. She also earned the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and a nomination for the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy. Her latest stand-up special was featured in Season 3 of Netflix’s The Stand Ups .
An original cast member of the Broadway hit Dreamgirls , Calloway has earned eight NAACP Image Award nominations. She won the NAACP Theater Award for Best Actress for her role as Zora Neale Hurston in her one-woman play Letters From Zora . She stars in The Black Hamptons now streaming on BET and Netflix’s new series The Vince Staples Show , produced by Kenya Barris. She is a producer and co-stars in Wicked City , a series on AllBlk. She directed, produced and co-starred in Black Girl Erupted , a TV movie streaming on BET and BETHer.
Monterroso Mejia is best known for her character Maria Sofia Estrada on Season 11 of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm . Upcoming, Monterroso Mejia will star opposite Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon in You’re Cordially Invited for Amazon, written and directed by Nick Stoller. She will star opposite Seth Rogen in The Studio , Apple TV+’s upcoming comedy series from Rogen’s Point Grey, and will also appear in Mindy Kaling’s pro basketball comedy series Running Point for Netflix.
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Apatow currently stars as Lexi Howard in HBO’s Euphoria . It was recently announced that she launched Jewelbox Pictures, a film and television production company alongside creative partner Olivia Rosenbloom. The company currently has three films in development, the first of which – Poetic License – will mark Apatow’s feature directorial debut. Jewelbox also optioned How to Murder Your Life , written by Cat Marnell, and is attached to produce the film Female Friendship , with an eye toward Apatow starring.
With a career spanning over 20 years, Williams’ guest role in Atlanta earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. His most recent project, the comedy horror film The House Next Door: Meet the Blacks 2 , fa ollow-up to the 2016 indie hit, stars Williams along with Mike Epps, Snoop Dogg and Danny Trejo.
Neal has worked on HBO’s Black Lady Sketch Show for Robin Thede, and artist Teezo Touchdown.
Scott has appeared in TNT’s Murder in the First , HBO’s Insecure , Freeform’s The Fosters and Showtime’s Twenties . Scott recently was a series regular on Apple TV+’s Home Before Dark.
Cage most recently starred in the second season of the Max series Rap Sh!t created by Rae and had a recurring role in the third season of Paramount’s Mayor of Kingstown .
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